From 1-4 and all but done, Warwick turned its football season around

Looking back, it was the perfect recipe for what would be a 1-4 record at the season's midpoint. And if you were counting Warwick out by the first weekend of October, you weren't alone.

But the clouds lifted. Injured players got healthy, the offensive line was no longer a revolving door, and the murder's-row portion of the schedule was over. And the Raiders went on a five-game winning streak that put them in the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year.

As the No. 8 seed, Warwick's first-round opponent is Phoebus, which has won 40 straight games and pounded the Raiders 49-6 eight weeks ago. But after working so hard to get here, Warwick is in no mood to concede.

"Nobody got their heads down," defensive end Saleem Hunter said. "We're making it happen now. We all had the heart to get to the playoffs."

Few saw it coming on Oct. 1, when the Raiders were blanked by Hampton 33-0 for their fourth consecutive loss. Their only victory to that point was a 54-31 win over Menchville on opening night.

But nobody else in the district had played a schedule as top-heavy. In consecutive weeks, the Raiders went against Booker T. Washington, Phoebus, Woodside and Hampton. Those teams would finish the regular season with a combined record of 35-5.

Worse, Warwick wasn't anywhere near full strength. Linemen Albert Webb, Daniel Wray and Waltron Moody and safety DeAndre Bethea were among those who missed games.

"We knew that would be a tough stretch because they were all playoff-caliber teams," Warwick coach Juan Jackson said. "At worst, we were hoping we could get a split. Unfortunately, we went 0-4.

"At the low point, you have kids second-guessing themselves. Some of them want to quit. We had to push them hard to overcome it, and they showed a lot of character. There was a lot of adversity, but they persevered."

The recovery began with expected wins over Gloucester, Heritage and Denbigh. Then came a 47-28 win over Bethel, which pushed the Raiders from 12th in the VHSL's Eastern Region Divison 5 ratings to eighth. And this past Saturday, Warwick clinched the No. 8 seed with a 15-7 win over Kecoughtan.

Those were must-wins. But really, every game since Oct. 1 has been.

"Honestly, that's what we told the kids," Jackson said. "All of the games in that stretch were must-win games if we wanted to continue our stretch of making the playoffs. We knew that at worst you could be 6-4 and make the playoffs. And even that would be close."

Offensively, sophomore tailback Cardon Johnson (1,156 yards, 15 TDs) has been quite a find. He transferred over the summer from Menchville, where he had played JV as a freshman. He has 193 rushing attempts, 29 more than anybody else in the Peninsula District.

"We never imagined we'd be using him that much," Jackson said.

Defensively, Warwick is fifth in scoring defense (25.0). But in a Week Nine win over Bethel, the Raiders allowed only one offensive touchdown until the final six minutes of the game. Against Kecoughtan, Warwick gave up only a kickoff return for a touchdown.

"They're playing much better, and they're playing as a unit," Jackson said. "They've stepped up their performance."